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Português“… This wealthy world has “kidnapped” Christmas and everything around it, and evicted Jesus! It loves the poetry, the atmosphere, the friendships, the presents, the lights, the stars, and the songs. It looks to Christmas for the best profits of the year. But there is no thought of Jesus”.
These words of Chiara Lubich, from the meditation “They have evicted Jesus”, gave rise to a very novel idea, promoted by the Gen 4, the youngest members of the Focolare Movement. Every Christmas since 1996, they have braved the winter cold and rampant consumerism, to offer statuettes of the child Jesus in big city squares and shopping centres. 
This year’s project has taken them to Central Park, New York, Piazza del Popolo in Rome, to the heart of Turin in via Po… Eight thousand small baskets were despatched from the world Gen 4 centre to be used as cradles for the child Jesus, to be welcomed into homes from Spain to Japan, from Africa to Sweden.
Here are some stories from different parts of the world:
Turin – Taking many “child Jesus”
When Margherita, a little girl from Turin, saw on the TV news that some supermarket chains had stopped selling cribs because they were “not commercially viable”, she exclaimed, “this year we will have to take many, many (statuettes of) the child Jesus!”
Germany – He came back with two envelopes
The German Gen 4 put their stall in a Christmas market. A man came up and took a statuette in his hands, looked at it, then went off without taking it. The Gen 4 decided to give it to him as a gift. They caught him up and said, “We want to give this to you as a present!”. His eyes lit up. He told them that he had lost his job and had no money to buy a statuette, then said goodbye and went home. After a while he came back with two envelopes. He wanted to give them a gift too. In the first envelope there was a prayer written out for them, and in the second a letter that said, “Ciao, dear children! I want to thank you for the biggest gift that there is. I’ll never forget it. You gave me a big surprise! I wish you all a Happy Christmas and beautiful presents.”
Dallas (Texas) – No time to stop
For the first time, the Gen 4 in Dallas had permission to offer the statuettes of the child Jesus outside a big office block. But it was not easy: people passed by, muttering “No thank you”, or asking, “What are they? Biscuits?”
The Gen 4 were quite dismayed, and asked themselves, “How come all these people don’t even have the time to stop and take Jesus home with them?” So they asked Jesus to help them to bring all his love to these people: it didn’t matter if they didn’t collect any money for the poor, they knew they were there to bring Him into the world. They didn’t give up: they prepared coloured posters offering the statuettes as a gift for Christmas, and sang carols.
The people began to stop and take the statuettes. A lady who wanted to take one realised that she had left her purse at home. Without hesitating, the Gen 4 gave it to her, and she went away happy and touched by the gesture. The Gen 4 were happy too: Jesus had found yet another home. When they came to count the money, they remembered that they ought to have given 10% to the company that owned the office block. They went together to the director’s office, where he told them that he didn’t want anything: in fact he wanted to make his contribution too, so that through the Gen 4 the money would get to those who needed it most.
Trent – You are all invited to my house
Silvia and Monica met together to make the plaster statuettes of the child Jesus. They decided to invite their friends too. Silvia wrote the invitations: “On Saturday afternoon you are all invited to my house, to make statuettes of Baby Jesus”, and the day afterwards gave them out to her classmates. On Saturday ten of them turned up to work! Before starting, Silvia and Monica showed them all a video where the Gen 4 explain their action “they have evicted Jesus”. No one wanted to go home at the end, and they promised to meet again soon.
Pisa – I can do acts of love too!
A very distinguished gentleman, finding himself in front of Lorenzo, who offered him a statuette, answered, “ I’m not interested, I’m an atheist.” Lorenzo answered, “I’m a Gen 4. What is an atheist?”. “And what are the Gen 4?”, asked the man. “The Gen 4 are those who do acts of love”. “Well, even if I don’t believe, I can do an act of love too!”, he concluded, and taking a statuette, left a very generous offering.
(Other stories may be found in the book “Hanno sloggiato Gesù (They have evicted Jesus)”, Città Nuova, 2005)
